The next day was even worse. I had just enjoying my first cup of coffee on the deck. It was still dawn, everything was quiet except for two hoot owls calling each other. I leaned back at peace with the world. Then I sensed someone else was in the yard. Dolores walked up on the deck with her tablet. Before I could say anything Jeanne appeared at the table with two cups of coffee. She was fully dressed at six o’clock. I cringed. Something cataclysmic was about to happen.

“Before I could say a word, they were sitting on opposites sides of the table and talking.”

Betty interrupted me. “What happened? Did anything great occur? How was Joseph and Mary?”

“Everything happened. The whole day was a total disaster. Jeanne and Dolores were constantly running from the deck to the barn. I’d try asking a question and they would be running and singing to the barn. They did tell me Joseph and Mary were still there and the baby was imminent.”

“I asked how imminent. I could see it now. The whole farm would be an encampment like Woodstock. People everywhere.”

“What did the girls say? Were they going to get a doctor?”

“All they would do is shrug their shoulders, give me a dumb grin and say, maybe today, tomorrow, the next day, this week or maybe next month. They didn’t have a clue. Then the dumb farmers returned”